US Open 2017: Hideki Matsuyama rocked and 18 final thoughts from Erin Hills

ERIN, Wis. — I love every major championship week. The Masters, The Open, The U.S. Open and the PGA Championship, it doesn’t much matter to me. Every major is different, and at least for the last seven, we’ve gotten a variety of winners. It’s a thrill to be at and cover these events, and that was true once again this week for the 117th U.S. Open at Erin Hills.

1. The course was fine: There was a lot of angst about this not being a proper U.S. Open, which is understandable considering the winning score of 272 was the third-lowest in the modern era. The problem for the USGA was two-fold. First, it rained a lot. Justin Thomas noted that on a normal course that received this much rain, 20 under would probably be leading after the third round. The second, and more important, point is that the wind didn’t blow. We came into this week knowing that one of the biggest defenders of this Scottish-American hybrid course would be the wind. It stood dormant for the first three days